"So what are you planning to do?" Stan asked, interrupting Skyl's thoughts.
"The Shadowfell," Skyl replied. "I'm going to create a demiplane connected to the Shadowfell and use it as a home for undead races."
The Shadowfell, also known as the Plane of Shadow, was an extradimensional echo layered over the Material Plane, much like the Feywild. It possessed no true color, only shades of black, white, and gray. Its landscape closely resembled that of the Material Plane, like a distorted reflection of the physical world.
Although countless fiends, monsters, and horrors had made their homes there, the Shadowfell itself was not inherently evil like the Negative Energy Plane.
Skyl intended to create his own demiplane for the undead, then connect it to the Shadowfell so that it would develop an environment suitable for their existence.
Many legendary spellcasters created personal demiplanes to use as storehouses or private homes. Within a demiplane they had personally created, a spellcaster enjoyed certain privileges. They could attempt to expel intruders through sheer force of will, although it would not always succeed, and could make minor adjustments to the demiplane's nature and laws, altering its elemental composition, the flow of time, its shape, and its internal structure.
Compared with a divine realm, a demiplane was little more than a cheap imitation, but creating one still gave a spellcaster the pride of having made an entire world. It also came with considerable bragging rights.
There were still several preparations to complete before the flying enclave could be raised into the sky. Skyl immediately began working, while Stan offered advice and handled the smaller tasks.
Doric needed time to recover from her injuries, so she pitched a tent on the cliff and drowsily went to sleep.
Her rest was far from peaceful. The psychic assault had left her with an unrelenting fever and headache. She drank a potion and ate two goodberries, and after feeling slightly better, she lay in her sleeping bag for another half hour before finally falling asleep.
When she opened her eyes again, the sky was only beginning to brighten, and the sun cast radiant morning light across the heavens.
The tiefling's mouth and throat felt painfully dry. She could hear the thunderous roar of waterfalls nearby. Still half asleep, she crawled out of her tent and discovered that the scenery before her had become almost completely unfamiliar.
The once cramped summit had expanded dozens of times over beneath the effects of permanent magic, becoming an enormous platform as broad as a public plaza. Morning mist gathered over the mountaintop in thick clouds, gleaming gold beneath the sunlight. It felt as though she had fallen asleep in the wilderness and awakened in an otherworldly paradise.
Doric stared at the transformed landscape in astonishment.
"How long was I asleep?"
Neither Skyl nor Stan was anywhere nearby, and the undead fishfolk had also vanished.
The tiefling explored the mist-shrouded summit alone. Smooth river pebbles and broad granite slabs covered the ground beneath her feet.
"Was I teleported into some enormous city while I was asleep?" Doric muttered.
She closed her eyes and attempted to connect with the Weave so she could prepare her divine spells. Instead, the druid sensed two distinct Weaves.
The first was the familiar old Weave, an intricate lattice of intersecting threads upon which her prepared divine spells rested.
The other was an unfamiliar new Weave. It spread in countless tangled roots and branching pathways, while the abundant magical energy flowing through them radiated brilliant light and left silver trails across her vision.
"The Silver Tree's roots!"
Doric was startled. She had not expected to become capable of sensing the framework of the Silver Tree's Weave so soon.
"How long was I asleep?"
Her mouth was so dry that she could not produce even a trace of saliva. Following the sound of running water, she eventually reached the center of the summit.
The Silver Tree still stood there, but at some point, a circular pool of unfathomable depth had appeared around it. Its surface was smooth as a mirror and reflected the Silver Tree above. Three waterways extended north, northwest, and northeast. Upon reaching the cliffs, they thundered over the edges and crashed against the rugged mountainside, splitting into a series of branching waterfalls.
Doric blinked. For some reason, the reflection of the Silver Tree in the pool immediately struck her as wrong.
After staring for a moment, she finally realized that gray candle flames were burning within the reflected canopy.
Her head was still throbbing, and all she wanted was a drink of fresh water. She leaned down and gently touched the surface of the pool, only for a powerful force to seize her.
Doric cried out as she was dragged into the reflection.
"Ah!"
The world turned upside down.
A moment earlier, she had fallen into the water. Now she leaped out of it without a single drop clinging to her body.
In the blink of an eye, she had entered a dim, gray demiplane.
Skyl and Stan stood beside the pool. Their bodies retained their natural colors, making them look like two colorized figures who had wandered into a black-and-white movie.
"Sleeping Beauty finally decided to wake up," Stan said with a wink.
"How long was I asleep?"
"Only two days." Skyl casually handed her a cup of potion.
"Thank you. I was incredibly thirsty." Doric finished drinking before remembering to ask, "What was that? It tasted pretty good."
"Dittany Potion (Essence of Dittany). I have more of it than I could ever drink. It should help your injuries a little."
Doric looked around. The newborn demiplane covered roughly two and a half acres, and stone sarcophagi filled the ground like a vast cemetery. The reflection of the Silver Tree stood in the center of the pool, with scattered gray candle flames already flickering among its branches.
The undead Mia lay inside a stone sarcophagus beneath the tree. Tiny specks of gray fire rose from the coffin and drifted toward the canopy like fireflies.
"Is she asleep?" Doric asked softly.
"As you can see, yes."
"I have a strange feeling. It's giving me chills. Is she dreaming?"
"The undead don't dream. She's merely lying dormant like a genuine corpse."
"Then where are those flames around her coming from?"
"They're lingering thoughts, the lingering thoughts of the undead. They aren't lights inside the skull, but their significance may be even greater."
Doric did not understand.
Skyl decided to demonstrate. He cast an illusion and created a white candle flame above one finger.
"Look. This is a normal light inside the skull. It is an aggregation of inspiration composed of the same fundamental substance as the soul. Without spiritual sight, you wouldn't be able to see it. Divine beings can transform lights inside the skull into divine power or use them to grant divine spells. I need to collect them to forge an Elden Ring."
"All right, then why can we see the gray flames?"
"Because thoughts contain magic, and magic possesses both light and color."
Skyl used another illusion to create a gray flame above a second finger. He brought it close to the white candle flame, and the two slowly merged, condensing into a black crystal.
"What is that?"
"A shell of lingering thought wrapped around spiritual essence can preserve information indefinitely. This is a blank spell slot."
Doric failed to process his words.
"What?"
She asked again, her expression so alarmed that she looked ready to run.
Skyl nodded. "You heard me correctly. This is a spell slot. It can store a single 1st-level spell, and casting that spell won't erase it. The spell can be accessed repeatedly, an unlimited number of times. With this, spellcasters will only need to consider the limits of their mental reserves. They'll never again have to worry about exhausting their daily spell slots.
"However, a spell stored within this crystal will only function inside the territory covered by the Silver Tree's roots. It can also be used like a scroll to store information. Compared with every other form of storage medium, it is far safer and more reliable."
Doric nodded blankly.
"Oh. That sounds nice."
Stan chuckled. "Silly girl, perhaps you should go back to sleep. You might miss the moment the flying enclave rises into the sky, though."
"I'm not sleeping again. I need to stay awake. Good heavens, I still feel as though I'm dreaming. Maybe one of you should pinch me. Ow! That hurt!"
Skyl flicked her forehead, and the tiefling girl covered it with both hands and glared at him.
"All right, don't look so resentful. Let's head outside."
They passed through the reflection upon the water and returned to the Material Plane.
"While you were sleeping, Stan and I expanded the space on the summit," Skyl explained. "It was accomplished through a magical effect that has now been made permanent. The Silver Tree's roots have also connected with six of the Inner Planes. I opened a portal to the Elemental Plane of Water and created a freshwater core that will provide the flying enclave with an endless supply of clean water."
"What happened to the kuo-toa?"
"We placed them in the caverns inside the mountain. They don't like sunlight."
As they spoke, the three of them walked to the edge of the summit and looked down over the island. Trees and grass covered the slopes, while rivers wound around the mountainside. The entire landscape overflowed with natural vitality.
Skyl turned toward the Eye of Magnus.
"It's time for my island to fly."
"Right now?"
"Yes, right now. Prepare to kiss the sky."
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